Government has taken various measures from time to time to stabilize prices of essential food items: Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti
The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today informed that the international prices of edible oils have increased between 51% to 80% during the last one year. A comparison of the monthly average retail price of 22 essential commodities for February 2020 (pre-lockdown) with September 2020 (post-lockdown) showed an increase in prices of the vegetables such as potato and tomato, but moderate decline in some other commodities.
In cereals the prices of rice increased by 3.58% while the prices of wheat declined by 3.19%. Among the pulses, Masoor dal and Tur dal recorded the highest increase of 15.07% and 9.22% respectively. In case of edible oils, sunflower oil and groundnut oil recorded an increase of 9.45% and 9.89% respectively.
The details of increase in prices of essential commodities is as follows-
| Commodities | RETAIL PRICES (Rs./Kg.) | VARIATION (%) | ||||||||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2021 OVER 2018 | |
| Rice | 29.23 | 30.05 | 31.68 | 34.25 | 36.68 | 2.81 | 5.42 | 8.11 | 7.09 | 22.06 |
| Wheat | 23.9 | 24.2 | 26.83 | 28.36 | 27.2 | 1.26 | 10.87 | 5.70 | -4.09 | 12.40 |
| Atta (Wheat) | 26.24 | 26.43 | 28.35 | 30.81 | 30.8 | 0.72 | 7.26 | 8.68 | -0.03 | 16.53 |
| Gram Dal | 87.28 | 66.47 | 66.02 | 68.59 | 74.83 | -23.84 | -0.68 | 3.89 | 9.10 | 12.58 |
| Tur/Arhar Dal | 84.02 | 71.07 | 81.66 | 95.2 | 106.5 | -15.41 | 14.90 | 16.58 | 11.86 | 49.84 |
| Urad Dal | 92.35 | 70.83 | 77.29 | 101.8 | 109.4 | -23.30 | 9.12 | 31.71 | 7.42 | 54.38 |
| Moong Dal | 77.57 | 73.46 | 81.38 | 103.5 | 106.3 | -5.30 | 10.78 | 27.18 | 2.72 | 44.73 |
| Masoor Dal | 70.32 | 61.29 | 62.95 | 74.74 | 83.3 | -12.84 | 2.71 | 18.73 | 11.45 | 35.91 |
| Groundnut Oil (Packed) | 131 | 125.8 | 130 | 147 | 171 | -3.98 | 3.35 | 13.08 | 16.29 | 35.90 |
| Mustard Oil (Packed) | 107 | 106.2 | 109.9 | 123.3 | 157.7 | -0.77 | 3.48 | 12.28 | 27.85 | 48.54 |
| Vanaspati (Packed) | 77.71 | 80.32 | 80.52 | 92.27 | 123.9 | 3.36 | 0.25 | 14.59 | 34.31 | 54.30 |
| Soya Oil (Packed) | 85.21 | 89.34 | 92.29 | 102.8 | 139.6 | 4.85 | 3.30 | 11.34 | 35.86 | 56.27 |
| Sunflower Oil (Packed) | 93.1 | 96.28 | 99.84 | 114.2 | 159.6 | 3.42 | 3.70 | 14.41 | 39.72 | 65.77 |
| Palm Oil (Packed) | 70.37 | 76.68 | 76.34 | 92.14 | 124.2 | 8.97 | -0.44 | 20.70 | 34.78 | 61.96 |
| Potato | 14.94 | 19.02 | 18.82 | 31.25 | 19.98 | 27.31 | -1.05 | 66.05 | -36.06 | 5.05 |
| Onion | 22.41 | 23.64 | 32.84 | 35.88 | 30.8 | 5.49 | 38.92 | 9.26 | -14.16 | 30.29 |
| Tomato | 32.32 | 21.82 | 31.1 | 33.66 | 21.03 | -32.49 | 42.53 | 8.23 | -37.52 | -3.62 |
| Sugar | 42.63 | 38.92 | 38.66 | 39.85 | 39.56 | -8.70 | -0.67 | 3.08 | -0.73 | 1.64 |
| Gur | 44.72 | 43.11 | 44.27 | 47.89 | 46.99 | -3.60 | 2.69 | 8.18 | -1.88 | 9.00 |
| Milk @ | 41.58 | 42.31 | 43.76 | 46.52 | 48.59 | 1.76 | 3.43 | 6.31 | 4.45 | 14.84 |
| Tea Loose | 202.8 | 209.2 | 212.5 | 224.7 | 275.1 | 3.17 | 1.59 | 5.71 | 22.47 | 31.53 |
| Salt Pack (Iodised) | 15.11 | 15.22 | 15.4 | 16.27 | 17.86 | 0.73 | 1.18 | 5.65 | 9.77 | 17.35 |
Source: D/o Consumer Affairs
The prices of food items are inter-alia affected by mismatch in demand and supply, shortfall in production owing to adverse weather conditions, seasonality, increased transportation costs, supply chain constraints etc.
The government has taken various measures from time to time to stabilize prices of essential food items which, inter-alia, include appropriately utilizing trade and fiscal policy instruments like import and export duty, Minimum Export Price, export restrictions, etc to regulate domestic availability and moderate prices.
To enhance the production of edible oils, Government vide Notification No. 34/2021-Customs, dated 29th June, 2021, has reduced the standard rate of duty on crude palm oil by 5 percent from 30.06.2021 and will effect upto 30th September, 2021. The Government vide DGFT’s Notification No. 10/2015-2020 dated 30th June, 2021, has amended the import policy of Refined Palm Oils from “restricted” to “free” with immediate effect and for a period of upto 31.12.2021.
A Centrally Sponsored Scheme i.e. National Food Security Mission (Oilseeds and Oil palm) has been implemented by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare in the country with effect from 2018-19 for increasing production and productivity of oilseeds and thereby edible oils. This mission comprises of three sub-missions namely, NFSM-Oilseeds, NFSM-Oil Palm and NFSM-Tree Borne Oilseeds and is being implemented through the State Department of Agriculture and Horticulture.
Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 provides for an objective and transparent criteria based on price triggers for imposition of stock limits. It also provides for exemption to processors and value chain participants subject to overall ceiling of installed capacity of processing or the demand for export in case of an exporter. The objective is to encourage investment in post-harvest management activities such as storage and processing as well as logistics and supply chain management; leading in turn to an increase in farmers’ income. The amendment also provides that Government can regulate the foodstuffs under extraordinary circumstances which may include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature. However, Hon’ble Supreme Court Vide its order dated 12.01.2021 has stayed implementation of the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
No such report regarding hoarding of edible oils has been received from the States/UTs.